Learn More>>Child Support>>Proving Gross Income

When establishing the amount of child support, if a parent fails to produce reliable evidence of income, such as tax returns for prior years, check stubs, or other information for determining current ability to pay child support or ability to pay child support in prior years, and the Court or the jury has no other reliable evidence of the parent's income or income potential, gross income for the current year shall be determined by imputing gross income based on a 40 hour workweek at minimum wage.

When cases with established orders are reviewed for modification and a parent fails to produce reliable evidence of income, such as tax returns for prior years, check stubs, or other information for determining current ability to pay child support or ability to pay child support in prior years, and the Court has no other reliable evidence of that Parent's income or income potential, the Court may enter an order to increase the child support of the parent failing or refusing to produce evidence of income by an increment of at least 10 percent per year of that Parent's pro rata share of the Basic Child Support Obligation for each year since the Final Child Support Order was entered or last modified.

If income is imputed to a parent as described above, the party believing the income of the other party is higher than the amount imputed may provide within 90 days, upon motion to the Court, evidence necessary to determine the appropriate amount of child support based upon reliable evidence. Then, a hearing is held and the Court may increase, decrease, or the amount of current child support may remain the same. While the motion for reconsideration is waiting to be heard, the parent who must pay child support shall be responsible for the amount of child support originally ordered. If the child support award changes, the parent responsible for payment is still responsible for any child support payments that were due prior to the Court changing its child support order. When there is reliable evidence to support the amount of income used to calculate child support payments should have been different, the parent shall not be required to demonstrate the existence of a significant variance or other such factors required for modification of an order.

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